Molded laminated gear blank



I sept..29,(1931. G. H. MAINS 1,824,825 v MOLDED LAMINATED GEAR BLAN K Filed NOV. 6, 1928 INVENTOR Gerald H Mains.

Al TORNEY Patented se t'ze, 1931 ffum'reu STATES-PATENT OFFICE,-

GERALD H. MAINS, OF WILKINSB URG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB T0 WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC &. MANUFACTURING COHIANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA momma LAMINATED GEAR BLANK Application filed November 6, 1928. Serial No. 817,652.

edge of the rimto prevent chipping of the material or separation of the laminations during the tooth cutting operation.

Another object of my invention is to provide a gear blank having a rim composedof laminated material in which the laminations, and particularly those adjacent to at least one face of the gear, areyflared outwardly with respect to the central plane of the gear so that the angle formed between a hob or other tool utilized in cutting the teeth and the laminations will be substantially less than 90 degrees. I

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved, method of producing a composite gear having a rim composed of laminated fabric material which comprises so molding the material that the lamina- I tions, and especially those adjacent to at least one face of the gear, will be flared outwardly, thus enabling the tooth cutting operation to be performed without chipping the material or causing the laminations to separate.

A composite gear blank as manufactured at the present time, comprises an outer rim consisting of laminated sheetsof fibrous material and aweb composed either'of laminated material or of fabricated cloth which has been chopped, shredded or cut into small pieces. The gear blank also may be provided with a metallic hub and facing sheets, such as rings fitting over'both sides of the rim or shrouds covering both sides of the rim and web. The fibrous material, impreg; natedrwith a suitable binding material, such as a. phenolic condensation product, is consolidated under heat and pressure around.

the metallic hub to form a gear blank which is subsequently machined to the required size.

Difiiculty, however, has been experienced in cutting teeth in a gear formed in this manner because there has been a tendency for the laminated layers of the rim to sepw rate and chip at the face of the gear from .which thecutting' tool emerges and this is particularly true when the cutting is per-' formed during rapid feeding of a hob or other tool thathas become slightly dull. In order to overcome this difliculty, it has been the practice durin the cutting operation to support the face 0 the laminated gear blank' from which the tool emerges to prevent the separation of the-laminations and the chipping of the material. This method however is both expensive and time consuming.

I have made the discovery that, if the rim of the ,gear blank is so molded that the laminations forming the rim of the gear are flared outwardl near the outer periphery of the rim 0 the blank, and

especially those laminations that are ad'acent to the face of the gear blank from which the cutting tool emerges, the tooth cutting operation may be performed without causing the laminations to separate, and the expens ve and time consumin process of supporting the rim will be eliminated.

My invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 4

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of In preferred gear blank and the mold utilized in forming the same; v

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a modified gear blank and a mold similar to that 'shown in Fig. 1; Flg. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showmg another modified gear blank and illustratmg howit may be produced in a mold of usual form;

Fig. 4 is aview, similar. to Figs. 2 and 3, showmg a mold and a modified ear blank and illustrating a method of pro ucing outwardly flared laminations; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the gear blank shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to 1 lg. 1 of the drawings, the

bottom of the mold and extending through the central portion of the stationary block,

serves as a support for a metal hub 6. The

fibrous material is then inserted in the moldand pressure is applied by the action of a platen or ram acting upon a movable block 7 which has a flat upper surface and a lower surface. 8 conforming to the upper face of the gear blank.

In forming the rim of the gear blank, a'

comparatively wide strip of fibrous material, impregnated with a suitable binder, suchas a phenolic condensation product,

and having a plurality of diamond shape 'notches cut centrally therein, is folded upon I itself in a manner similar to that described in the patent to Bierman, et al., Ser. No. 1,599,550, issued on September 14, 1926.

The folded strip is then helicallywound around a suitable form or mandrel, and the ring shaped laminations thus formed are placed on the interior of a mold having an upwardly extending central ortion. Fibrous material, such as cotton ock, or duck that has been suitably shredded, chopped, or cut into small pieces, and which has been impregnated with a suitable binder or mixed with a resin, is placed in the mold between the laminated material and the upwardly extending central portion and pressure is applied which compacts the shredded or c opped material and forces it against the external rim portion, forming a unitary structure consisting of the. rim and the In forming the finished gear blank, the hub 6 is placed on the central stud 5 which extends upwardly from the bottom of the mold. The lower shrouds or discs 11, the previously formed unitary structure consisting of the rim and web, and upper shrouds or discs 12, all impregnated with a suitable binder, such as a phenolic condensation prgduct, are disposed around the central hu The mold may be any of the forms usually employed, such as singleor multiplecavity or it may be of the ash or positive type. The portion of theface of the block 3 that comes in contact with the rim during the molding operation, however, has a beveled or rounded edge constituting a depression as indicated at 13,.and both the upper an lower shrouds are undersized, that is, they do not extend to the edge of the rim.

I The assembled parts of the gear are then subjected to heat and pressure, the heat causing the binder to flow and the pressure com- 1,s24,eac

pacting the softened material. Upon subsequent and continued application of heat and pressure, the entire mass solidifies to form a composite integral structure, as illustrated in Fig. 5. The upper laminations of the rim will be slightly flared upwardly, as indicated at 14, because the upper shrouds do not extend to the outer edge of the rim, and thelower laminations will be flared downwardly for the same reason and also because of the depression formed by-the beveled or rounded edge of the block 3.

It will be noted that, when the gear. blank is made by the method specified, a ridge or fin is formed at the-edge of each face, as indicated at 18, and the face width-at the extreme edge of the rim is reater than at the remaining portions. W en undersized shrouds are utilized in combination with a .block having a beveled or rounded edge, the same flaring effect may be produced with a smaller depression than is obtained when a deeper depression is formed in the block and the shroud'sheets are of the usual size. In the latter case, however, the ridge or fin that is formed during the molding operation is larger, and, as it is enerally necessary to remove this ridge, eit er by a grinding operation or when the gear blank is subsequently machined to produce a gear having an accurate face width, it is desirable, for economic reasons, that the ridge should be as smallas possible. A small edge de ression in the block, however,is desirable ecause it prevents the facing sheet from slipping and. thisis especially true when rings are employed as the facing material for the rim of the ear.

The gear blanks shown in Figs. 2 and 3 are molded by essentially the same process as the blank illustrated in Fig. 1, with the exce tion that, in Fig. 2, the shrouds are of t e usual size and the outward flared laminations adjacent to the lower face of the gear blank are produced by means of a depression ground in the extreme edge of the block 3 while, in Fig. 3, a similar result is accomplished by utilizing undersized shrouds.

In the method disclosed in Fig. 2, the degree that the laminations are flared may be regulatedby the size of the depression. This method is especially desirable when the gear blank is not provided with shrouds or rings. -The method disclosed in Fig.3 is sometimes advantageous because, when employing this method, it is not necessary to modify the mold, and no projecting ridge is formed on the face of the rim.

Experiments demonstrate that the separation of the lamination's and the chipping of the material by the cutting tool occur at or closely adjacent to that face from which the tool emerges and, while the methods illusassess:

preferred embodiment of my invention, they are satisfactory when the tool emerges from the bottom; that is, when the gear teeth are cut in one direction only.

, A (gear blank having a rim with upwardly flare laminations that are formed by a modified process is illustrated in Fig. 4. When this method is employed, a slightly wider strip of laminated material may be wound around the mandrel to form the rim of the gear blank, or, if preferred, strips of standard width may be wound around 'a form having a larger diameter. When the preformed structure consisting of the rim 9 and web 10 are inserted in the mold, as previously described, the outer laminations of the rim will engage the wall. of the mold and, since the diameter of the rim is reater than that of the mold, the outer e ges of the laminations will be tilted or flared upwardly during the molding operation and 'those laminations which are adjacent to the and 4, may be employed to good advantage in forming a gear blank in which the teeth may be cut in either direction. The laminated layers adjacent to the upper face of the gear blank will be flared upwardl cause of. frictional enga ement of the ami nations with the side 0 the mold, and the layers adjacent the lower side of the gear blanks will be flared downwardly because of the depression in the block or'because under- I sized shrouds are employed.

When the cutting operation is to beperformed in one direction only, the frictional-' engagement method disclosed in Fig. 4 may c be. combined with the use of an undersized shroud on the upper face of the blank or.

with a mold having a depression ground in the edge of the upper movable block 7. Either'method will increase the flare and m'alylbe utilized to gcod adv'alri 1 some t "0 gear H: one-or more of the sh dds do not extend domplete- 1v over the web and rim but terminate along the sides of the rim, as indicated. at 16 in Fig. 4. In such cases, separate rings 17 havisemployed,andadiscandaringareplaced fibrous ing a smaller width than the rim are provided as a facing material for the rim to produce the effect illustrated inFigs. land. 3; When a ring serves as a facing material, it may be placed on the surface of the rim during the performing operation or fastened to the rim material or, if a full sized shroud the methods utilized in form- In web are flamdontwanllyatthe "wardly to prevent over the shroud, the may be fastened to the underl shroud to prevent slipping duri the mol ng operation.

A ll sized facing sheet or shroud sometimes .has a tendency to pull away from the exterior of the rim during the molding operation and this is especially true when the gear has a thin web, as illustrated in the drawings When a is employed asthe facing material, it is, erefore, necessary to leave more space between the outer ed of the and the edge of the rim, as t e best seen ts are obtained when the distance between the edges of the shrouds or and the outer edge of the rim in the fimshed gear is approximately one-ei hth of an in Whl e I have described my invention in considerable detail and have illustrated various methods of forming the gear blank, it will be understood that I do not desire to limit myself to the exact details disclosed.

- For example, in invention-may be utilized in gears in whic both-the rim and the web are folrmed of lamiiiatedd mpterial or in rs avmgarim orm o rmgsorse i n nts instead of helically wound materias. The rim is preferably formed of laminated fabric but I do not preclude the use of such fibrous material as paper, asbestos or felt.- some cases the fibrous material may also be reinforced by rforated metal, or wire strands may be 7 interwoven therein. The

rtion may also be formed of metal f des'ired, it may be formed of fibrous or, i

the same thickness as the material ha rim. Any w known binding1 also be substituted for'the p enolic condensation product, such as glue or glycerolphthalate resins.

other modifications of my invention will becomeap renttothoseskilledintheart. I desire, tions shall be imposed thereon as are reby prior art and the appended *u' ""s t?? r mg a mm on layefi of fibrous materifi imp ted with a phenolic tion pnct,thela rsadjacentatleastone acebaing outwardly. 2. Agearblankhaving laminations h1th o e blankto preventthe ons mchipping o r separating during the teeth-cutting ons.

8. Agearblankcom risinglayersofma-. terial having outwardly flared .edge portions, said laminations being flared o utor separating of the material during teeth-mtting operation.

4. A gear' blank layers of agent may erefore, that only such limita-.

and pressure in a depression at the flared outwardly at an angle to the central plane of the ear to prevent chipping or segarating of t e material during the teet cutting operation.

5. A gear blank comprising layers of fibrous material flared outwardly adjacent to at least one face of the blank so that the angle formed between the line of travel of a tool utilized in cutting teeth in the blank andthe layers will be less than 90 degrees.

6. A gear blank comprising a rim portion formed of layers. of fibrous materlal, the layers adjacent to at least one face of the rim being flared outwardly so that a tool utilized in cutting teeth on the rim will not chip the material or cause the layers to separate.

-7. A gear blank having a rim portion comprising laminated material having outwardly flared laminations to prevent chipping or separating of .the material durin teeth-cutting operation, the ,width .0 said rim being greater at its outer edge than at any of its other portions.

8. A gear blank comprising a molded rim composed of composite layers of material impregnated with -a binder part of said layers being flared outwardly during the molding operation so that the extreme edge of the molded rim has a greater width than the remaining portions;

9. A gear blankhaving a rim comprising laminated fabric material, a facing sheet on said rim which does not extend to the edge of the rim, a portion of said laminations being flared at an angle to said facing sheet. 7

10. A gear-blank comprising a rim formed of laminated material, a web formed of shredded or chopped fabric and a binding agent, a sheet of facing material-extending over each side of said web and the major portion of said rim, said laminated material adjacent to each face being flared outwardly at an angle to the central plane of the gear blank.

11. The method of roducing a gear blank having a rim provided with'outwardly flared laminations adjacent to at least one face which comprises'im regnating the fibrous laminated material 0 the rim with a bindin agent and forming the gear blank in a mo (1 of such size or contour that the laminations adjacent to at least one face of the rim will be flared outwardly.

12. The method of producing a gear blank having a rim provided with outward? lfy flared laminations adjacent to at least one ace which comprises impregnating layers of fibrous material with a inding agent and forming the gear blanks under heat mold having a bevelled outer edge of one of its pressure blocks 13.1The method of producing a gear portion theblank having a rim provided with outwardy flared laminations adjacent to at least one face which comprises impregnating layers of fibrous material with a inding agent, placing a facing sheet over only the inner portion of the impregnated layers and molding the gear blank under heat and pressure.

.14. The method of producing a gear blank having a rim provlded with outward- 1y flared laminations adjacent to at least one face which comprises mpregnating layers of fibrous material with a bindin agent, placing a-facing sheet over onl t e inner of the impregnated ayers and forming the gear blank in a mold having a depression at the .outer edge of one of its pressure blocks.

15. The method of producing a gear blank having a rim provided with outwardly flared laminations adjacent to both faces which comprises impregnating layers of fibrous material with a bindin agent, placing a facing sheet over the inner portion of each side of the impregnating la ers and forming the gear blank in a mol having a depression at the outer edge of one of its pressure blocks In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 31st day of 00-- 

